


i don't want to be your friend, i want to kiss your lips

by aheadfulloffollies



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Adora (She-Ra) is a Dork, Catra (She-Ra) Needs a Hug, F/F, High School AU, Jock Adora (She-Ra), Lesbian Adora (She-Ra), Lesbian Catra (She-Ra), Let Catra (She-Ra) Say Fuck, Minor Perfuma/Scorpia (She-Ra), POV Catra (She-Ra), Prom, adora does karaoke, girls, i don't like that horse but idk i needed something, i just really like saying fuck i'm sorry, i wanna be your girlfriend, lots of gay panic, song: girls, song: i wanna be your girlfriend, swift wind is referenced, technically a songfic but like not exclusively, there's a lot of swearing so be warned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:20:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28320783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aheadfulloffollies/pseuds/aheadfulloffollies
Summary: Catra goes to the joint prom for the Horde Academy and Bright Moon High and tries not to fall for Adora. High school AU.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 86





	i don't want to be your friend, i want to kiss your lips

**Author's Note:**

  * For [asmileyoucouldbottle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/asmileyoucouldbottle/gifts).



> listen up my dearly detested dot, you are an absolute IDIOT and you're a FOOL and truly a fucking IMBECILE but I LOVE YOU SO FUCKING MUCH. merry christmas you bitch i hope you like it <3333

Whoever was in charge of  funding for Bright Moon and the Horde was either an idiot or had a really fucking bad sense of humor.

Catra understood that money was tight, perhaps better than most anyone else. She’d never had the simple pleasure of spending on most things that weren’t necessities. But putting Bright Moon and the Horde  _ together _ for one prom?

It was going to be a disaster. It had been for the past two years, when they did the exact same thing. The school board must have been particularly masochistic to know that and do it again. Hell, Catra had caused the prom’s demise herself (with the help of Scorpia, Lonnie, Kyle, and Rogelio) multiple times. But she was over such dramatic displays of hurt.

It was senior year. She just wanted to enjoy a prom night. To wear a nice suit and not feel alone for once.

Of course, the tense relations between the two schools might come between that. Even more likely, though, was that Catra herself would create the wedge between what she wanted and where she was.

She knew this, but she got ready anyway.

There was still an hour before the dance, and contrary to previous years, Catra got ready alone. She drew eyeliner with sharp precision and a knife, blended eyeshadow to a dark smoky black, and slipped into her black-and-white suit, making sure the lapels were pressed and forgoing the tie altogether.

She was ready.

Kind of.

Well, physically, she was entirely prepared. And although she tried to will herself to move forward, to get in the car and go, her emotions stopped her right in her tracks.

Fucking feelings. Who the fuck created them anyway?

Truth be told, Catra was not ready to see Adora again.

Freshman year at prom, she staged a “kidnapping” of Bow and Glimmer and brought them all the way from the Bright Moon gym to the Horde, where Adora predictably came to rescue them within an hour. Sophomore year, they made school history getting into a petty catfight in the middle of the dance floor. Junior year, things went  _ really _ wrong and what was intended as a mostly-harmless prank ended up almost killing Principal Angella.

To be honest, she didn’t know what to  _ do _ at prom if she wasn’t antagonizing Adora or her friends.

She didn’t know how to have fun there without her. Even if they only way they would speak was through harsh words and insults.

But that was pathetic bullshit. She had other friends. Scorpia and Entrapta, she reminded herself. Maybe even Lonnie and Rogelio. Kyle, if she was desperate.

She had to do this. Prove to herself that she could have fun- just one night of it- without Adora. Being a typical stupid high school student at an under-funded prom in a smelly gym with a million different students she didn’t know and didn’t want to. Making stupid decisions that were  _ only _ stupid, not potentially destructive to everyone in the area. Stupid shit that didn’t hurt herself, either.

She deserved one night of fun, she thought. But it was up to her to make it happen, and Catra knew better than anyone how low those chances were.

She groaned, fighting the urge to run a hand straight down her face and ruin her makeup. Shaking her head in a futile attempt to clear its incessant thoughts and feelings, she walked out of the empty house and got in the car.

-

It was… loud.

That was Catra’s first thought as she stepped in the gym, already filled to the brim with people dancing and talking and sweating (mostly sweating). There was karaoke set up in one corner (who the  _ fuck _ thought that was a good idea?) and refreshments in another, sparkly lights hanging from the ceiling, but Catra payed little attention to the décor. Her eyes searched the room before she even realized it, catching on Adora and her friends of their own accord.

She, Glimmer, Bow, Mermista, and Frosta stood in a small circle by the refreshments table, but she zeroed in on the only one she truly cared about.

Adora’s hair was in its signature ponytail and hair poof (god, she loved that stupid fucking poof), a golden brooch holding it in place. Her dress was white, hugging her curves on the torso but falling effortlessly like a soft wave to the floor. The neckline was rimmed with a black lace ribbon that covered all of the off-the-shoulder sleeves, and she looked so fucking gorgeous Catra couldn’t rip her treacherous fucking eyes away.

What stupid, vengeful gods of gay made her so fucking beautiful? Take pity on a poor lesbian, her mind begged as she shut her eyes tight, visions of an angel in white burned into the backs of her eyes. Let her be ugly for  _ once. _ But when she opened them again, there she was, moving across the floor to talk to one of the chaperones- Netossa, Catra remembered her name being, and she looked as much a god-gifted, painfully starlike sight as she had before.

Fuck. This entire idea and night and lifetime was  _ fucked _ if Adora insisted on looking like  _ that _ for no good fucking reason.

“Catra!” Scorpia’s loud voice broke her from her trance, but not without nearly jumping out of her skin.

“Scorpia,” she said with gritted teeth, turning to face her friend.

“Oh man, I didn’t know if you’d come! You look great. I love the eyeliner. Your knife skills are amazing.”

Catra laughed awkwardly. “Uh, thanks. You look… good, too.”

She did. Really. Scorpia had gone all-out in a strapless aqua gown, accented with blooming pink flowers and flawless makeup. But she was unable to see the outfit as anything more than decent, a dull sight compared to Adora’s constant sparkle.

“Aw, thank you!” Scorpia beamed, going in for a hug that made Catra wince despite the slow warmth in her chest. She was too good for her.

Then again, most everyone was.

“Where’s Entrapta?” she asked, wondering why she even bothered coming. She said they were brilliant “social experiments”, but that was hardly reason to go to  _ four _ of them, at least in Catra’s opinion.

“Oh, she went to talk to Bow about something sciencey or another,” Scorpia said flippantly, entirely unaware of the way Catra’s heart beat, connecting the dots between her friend to Bow, who was Adora’s friend, and therefore the possible interaction that could arise from-

“Oh! Catra. Let me introduce you to my date, Perfuma!” Catra snapped back to reality, arms crossed protectively over her chest, a movement she hadn’t even realized she’d made. A slow smile grew across her face as the girl she knew to be Adora’s friend handed Scorpia a red cup full of water.

“Hey,” she said simply.

“Catra,” Perfuma said cordially, though her disdain was clear. Catra couldn’t exactly blame her. She hadn’t been the nicest person through the years, though it was nothing personal.

Well, it was everything personal, but not in regards to Perfuma herself.

She looked her up and down, processing the flower-studded hair and dress that she realized with a click of recognition matched Scorpia’s. They were… they were dressed like a couple.

When had that happened?

She knew Scorpia was into women. It was no secret she’d had a crush on Catra herself for a few years, not that she’d cared much. Friends were hard to come by, and Scorpia didn’t push. But… Perfuma? When? Had Catra been so wrapped up in her own internal Adora drama,  _ again, _ that she’d missed something so crucial happening in her friend’s life?

Fuck. She needed to do better.

She  _ would _ do better, she insisted. As soon as she could get over this stupid crush-on-Adora shit. As soon as she stopped caring about seventeen years of history.

“I’m sorry,” she said abruptly, drawing Scorpia’s and Perfuma’s attention back to her. “For past years.” She stared at Perfuma, trying to offer the promise that she was genuine through her expression alone. “For what it’s worth- which probably isn’t much- I do think you’re a good person.” She paused, then changed her expression to something a bit more menacing. “But if you hurt Scorpia, I will come for you and it will not be pretty.”

This, as opposed to anything else she’d said, made Perfuma grin so wide Catra was genuinely kind of worried her face would break.  _ What the fuck?  _ That had been a threat, not a joke.

It surprised her even more when Perfuma wrapped her in a hug, smelling of flowers and overwhelming Catra completely.  _ What the fuck?! _ What was it with everyone and hugging?

“You’re not so bad, either,” Perfuma said, finally releasing her from the embrace. “And I’d say the same to you.”

She frowned. “Scorpia and I aren’t dating.” They wouldn’t ever be. She loved her, really (not that she’d ever say it unless under a  _ lot _ of duress), but… they weren’t meant for each other that way. They never would be. And she was more than okay with that.

“I know,” Perfuma said with a laugh. “I mean as a friend. Don’t hurt her.”

“You know, I’m standing right here,” Scorpia said, frowning slightly as if confused. Catra thought with some amounts of wonder that she probably thought Catra and Perfuma would never hurt her. God. She was too good a person for this world.

“Right,” she muttered, Perfuma’s words echoing on repeat in her mind, almost replacing the image of Adora in that fucking dress.

Almost.

“How about we dance?” she asked suddenly, wanting badly to escape from this mess in her mind and spotting a familiar head of purple hair on the dance floor, talking amiably with Bow.

“Oh, yes!” Perfuma clapped and Scorpia cheered, and Catra was swept onto the dance floor, willing herself to be happy.

-

The night was coming to  the close, and Adora was at the karaoke machine.

Catra almost hadn’t noticed it. She tried her best to ignore her former best friend the entire prom, trying to banish any nagging memories of soft golden hair or shining blue eyes or a dopey grin from her head. But she always seemed to seek her out in the crowd regardless, finding that familiar face no matter where either of them were in the room and what Catra was doing.

Adora argued with the DJ whose name Catra didn’t know for a moment, which was what drew Catra’s attention. Adora hardly ever argued with people- she was far too much of a people-pleaser. Catra herself had been standing by the punch bowl alone for approximately five minutes, sipping from a cup and letting her mind wander to anything but Adora.

Needless to say, it was not going well, and it was going worse when Adora picked up the microphone and the DJ started playing a song Catra recognized immediately.

Of course the quarterback of Bright Moon’s football team would get the DJ to play a song with curse words in it.

A crowd began to form around her, almost blocking Catra’s view- but not quite. “ _ Oh Hannah, I want to feel you close… _ ”

Catra was going to fucking die. That was it. She was going to have a fucking heart attack from being too gay for the universe. God was finally punishing her for the eternal sin of loving women.

“ _ Oh Hannah, tell me something nice; like flowers and blue skies. _ ”

Was anyone going to tell her that Adora was sapphic, or was she supposed to find out at senior prom on her fucking deathbed when Adora sang karaoke to “I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend” herself?

And then Adora’s eyes unmistakably found hers through the crowd, and she actually might have combusted on the spot.

“ _ Oh, this can’t be real, it’s all just a dream… _ ”

Catra thought vaguely through a sea of what could only be described as gay panic that this was most certainly a dream and she never wanted to wake up.

“ _ I don’t wanna be your friend, I wanna kiss your lips. _ ” Adora raised her arm slowly, pointing through the crowd. Most people wouldn’t be able to tell who she was pointing at, Catra was sure, what with all the people there.

She knew.

Her knees buckled and she let out a sound that was part a scream, part a groan, part something that must have come straight from the devil.

“ _ I wanna kiss you until I lose my breath. I don’t wanna be your friend- _ ” The music played on to a different line, but Adora continued anyway, a dare in her eye. “ _ -I wanna be your bitch. _ ”

What the  _ fuck _ was Catra supposed to think of that and why the  _ fuck _ had Adora done that and why the  _ fuck _ had she not melted on the spot already and  _ what the fuck _ ?

She wanted to scream, or faint, or punch something. Maybe all three at once. But instead, she ran to the bathroom, face burning and unable to even form cohesive thoughts. In the corner of her eye, Adora pushed her way through the crowd in a direction she could have sworn was towards her.

Pushing open the door of the bathroom with no regard to who was in it, if anyone, she turned on the faucet and splashed cold water over her face frantically, not giving a shit about makeup. Her heart beat wildly in her chest, and she could hear it in her ears, the sound filling her empty, panicked mind.

“Catra?”

_ Fuck. _

“Hey, Adora,” she said without looking up. She couldn’t look up, or else she’d probably do something unforgivably stupid like kiss her.

Taking a deep breath, she collected herself as best as she could, taking a quick glance in the mirror and noting with satisfaction that her makeup wasn’t  _ completely _ ruined. Then she turned to Adora.

The sight of her so close hit Catra like a blow straight to the heart.

“Are you okay?”

It took her a moment too long to realize that was a question directed at her.

“Yeah,” she said roughly, unable to tear her eyes away from Adora’s worried face. “I’m fine.”

“Okay,” she said slowly, pausing, through her face was skewed in that way Catra knew meant she was thinking, hard. “Did you see that?”

She didn’t need to specify what  _ that _ was.

“Yes,” she said entirely too quickly.

“And… what did you think?”

Did she  _ want _ her to tell her she nearly fucking died and it was the sexiest thing she’d ever seen in her life? If not, what was she  _ supposed _ to say to that?

She realized once more a moment too late that she meant liking girls. “Oh,” she said quickly. “Yeah. Great. That’s, uh.” She cleared her throat and turned to the side, scratching the back of her neck. “Great. For you, I mean. To come out.”

Adora laughed awkwardly. “I’ve been out since freshman year.”

_ What? _ “What?”

“Yeah. Glimmer and I… well.”

_ Oh. _ That was an even bigger blow than… any of this, and Catra had to steel her will and tell herself not to cry. “Oh. That’s… great,” she said, acutely aware that she’d used that adjective way too many times in the past few minutes. “I’m happy for you, I mean. Congratulations.”

“What?”

_ What was confusing about that? _ Catra wanted to die on the spot. She was a gay fucking mess. She barely even knew what was happening right now. Why was Adora confused? Why had she not known she was gay? How had she not known she and Glimmer were a couple?

How had she  _ missed _ all of this?

They stood there, blinking at each other for a long moment before Adora spoke again.

“ _ Oh, _ ” she said with the tone of dawning realization. “Glimmer and I aren’t together anymore,” she hurried to specify, looking oddly embarrassed. “We haven’t been since the end of junior year. We’re still best friends, but that’s it. I am a lesbian though. Um. Gay. That’s why I was… the song.”

This was a fucking roller coaster, and Catra didn’t know if she could handle it for much longer.

“Cool. Um. That’s… great, then. Not about you breaking up, though I’m glad you’re still friends. But the lesbian thing.”  _ God, could you sound any more creepy? _

Adora laughed again, and Catra wondered why the fuck either of them were even here. “Yeah. Thanks. Did you…” Another hesitation, another moment with that look on her face. “I made eye contact with you when I was… singing that, you know.”

Yes, Catra knew. She knew it better than she knew herself, and she was surprised she hadn’t died from the knowing of it. But what the  _ fuck _ was she supposed to respond to that with?

Wait. Was mentioning staring at your ex-best friend while singing an iconic gay song to said ex-best friend coming out to them gay?

Like,  _ gay _ gay? Possible-crush-territory gay?

She suddenly wished Scorpia were there to recreate the situation so she could look at it more objectively. Around Adora, her logical brain was screwed. Actually, every version of her brain was screwed. It was lesbian panic, constantly, 100% of the time.

“Yes,” she finally said, speaking abruptly. “I am too. Uh. Gay, I mean. Lesbian.” She fumbled over the words, even though they weren’t a secret. She didn’t make it a deal to come out to anyone, but if they asked, she told.

“ _ Oh, _ ” Adora said, eyes wide. Catra tried to think outside of her rapidly beating heart and failed.

“Yeah.”

“That’s good! Sorry. That’s… I’m happy for you.”

“...thank you.”

They stood there, and they both seemed to be waiting for something, but Catra didn’t know what. Was this the point where she told Adora she had known she was attracted to girls since she saw her beat Lonnie’s ass playing during P.E. in kindergarten and she’d been in love with her ever since?

She was high on confusion and panic and gay, so she was halfway to indeed saying just that when Adora spoke again.

“I-”

The door flung open, and both of them jumped and turned, seeming to be jolted out of a world where they weren’t in a high school bathroom during prom.

“Adora, Catra! Great, I thought I saw you come in here!” Entrapta grinned, and Catra tried to force a smile, but she was pretty sure she was glaring daggers. Fortunately, Entrapta never seemed to care about things like that.

“I need input,” Entrapta continued. “What do you think are the chances a communist winged unicorn horse exists in this dimension? Because my research says-”

What the fuck? “Low,” Catra interrupted.

“I don’t know,” Adora said, seeming to genuinely be considering it. She was such a fucking  _ idiot. _ Entrapta rapidly typed something into that tablet she seemed to carry everywhere. “It  _ could _ be-”

Entrapta gasped loudly, effectively cutting her off and taking them both aback. “Hold on! I just got new data from one of my sources a few miles from here. Hold that thought. I’ll be back!” she called, disappearing out the door as quickly as she’d come.

And they were back to standing in silence.

“So,” Catra said after a long moment. “Don’t you have your Princess friends to get back to?”

Adora’s face contorted into something troubled. “You know, I really think you’d like them if you gave them a chance.”

Catra stared at her own reflection in the mirror. “I know.”

“Okay,” Adora replied, nodding rapidly as Catra turned back to her. She was almost tired of the constant reality of Adora being  _ that fucking gorgeous, _ but she still was. She always was. “Well, yeah. I guess I should…” She gestured toward the door, and when Catra didn’t move to stop her, opened it, starting to leave the stupid fucking bathroom, when she suddenly turned back with a sad smile. “I sang that for you, by the way. That was why I looked right at you. And pointed.” She laughed a bit. “I’m not subtle.”

Catra’s mind was a flatline overloading, and she couldn’t think anything, much less respond.

“Okay. Um. Bye, Catra.” She waved a little-  _ god, _ why was that one movement so fucking  _ stupid  _ and  _ cute _ and make Catra’s heart do fucking  _ acrobatics _ ?- and left, the door swinging closed behind her.

_ Fuck. _

That, she couldn’t take any other way.

Could she?

What if she was wrong?

What if she was about to ruin all the progress they’d made in being friends in the past year?

_ Fuck it, _ she decided, bursting out of the bathroom with a renewed energy, eyes searching the crowd until she found the person she was looking for. She ripped Scorpia away from Perfuma with a rushed apology, staring her friend straight in the eyes.

“Scorpia,” she said, breathing frantic and eyes surely manic, “is it gay to tell someone you sang ‘I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend’ for them? Like,  _ gay _ gay?”

“W- what? Did Adora say that?! Catra! This is amazing! You should-”

“ _ Scorpia, _ ” she interrupted. She appreciated the sentiment, but it wasn’t what she needed from her right now. “Please. Just answer the question.”

“Oh! Right. Sorry. Um, yes. Definitely. That is  _ very _ gay. Like-”

But Catra wasn’t listening, already leaving to charge ahead as the sound of “Girls” filled her ears and there was Adora again, standing in front of that fucking  _ microphone _ and crooning into it like a goddamn lesbian goddess and making Catra lose her fucking  _ mind, _ and she swore this was the worst kind of torture.

She pushed through a million people, ignoring them and their shouts and their glares as she pushed until she was at the very front of the crowd and Adora’s eyes locked with hers.

“ _ Afraid of what they’ll say, so I push them away… _ ”

Jesus  _ fucking  _ Christ. Catra was going to fucking  _ die, _ but it was  _ not _ going to happen before she kissed Adora, so help her.

So she did just that, stalking forward and next to Adora, who turned her face to see what was happening, singing into the mic still. Catra leaned forward so her mouth was against Adora’s ear and whispered so only she could hear.

“I don’t want to be your friend, I want to be your bitch.”

Adora’s cheeks flamed bright red, but Catra was already leaning in to kiss her, the karaoke and people staring entirely forgotten. The world, as far as she was concerned, could go fuck itself.

And it was great and brilliant and all very well, but Catra’s mind was going haywire as she wondered if she’d misread everything and did Adora hate her now and  _ fuck _ this had been the best bad idea-

But then Adora was kissing her back and she was going to fucking combust. The heat from the karaoke spotlight, long forgotten, the sparks in Catra’s own chest, and the starlit brightness of Adora’s soul was just too fucking much.

It was perfect.

It was messy and people were yelling and whistling and booing, even, but it was fucking perfect.

“Wow,” Adora whispered when they broke apart, eyes lidded heavily and smile wide.

“Shut up, you dork,” she responded.

“Gladly,” Adora said, crushing her lips to Catra’s again.

_ This is not a phase, or a coming of age… _ girl in red sang over the speakers, and Catra smiled against Adora’s lips.

This would last.

It had to.

It would.

They would make it.


End file.
